80 
A VOYAGE TO SFITZBEBGEN. 
and worrying at the unsightly food. It is in the 
sunny fiords of northern Iceland these finners are 
now oftenest found, and there in the clear deep 
water of the beautiful bays indenting the coast they 
lead a comparatively easy life. Some speculative 
Americans established in one of these fiords a rather 
extensive fishing-station, hoping to derive large profits 
from the systematic pursuit of the finner whale. The 
undertaking was a disastrous one, and the remains 
of the deserted factory now encumber the shores of 
one of the finest natural harbours of that coast. 
The harpooners are capital sailors, and a few are fair 
sportsmen; they contribute to the support of their 
families by making these trips with whalers, when 
they gain as wages sometimes from £10 to £15 a 
month ; they are usually naval reserve men, and at 
times they are employed on the works at the Hull 
docks refitting ships, picking up odd jobs, looking 
after leaky ships as they come in for shelter in stormy 
weather, or in hiring gangs of men to clear ships by 
contract. Such men have the greatest contempt for 
the Navy—“ Why, sir, I can earn as much money as 
a brass-buttoned lieutenant gets any day, and as for 
being ordered about by a set of middies who knows 
nothing they give orders about—no, sir, none of my 
family enter the Navy; we saw enough of them up 
